I Know What You Did Last Century
by Gemini Artemis
Summary: Before they met the Chans, the demons decide to camp in a mysterious forest and accidentally end up doing a ritual. [on hiatus]
1. Perdition Forest

This fic doesn't exactly have a good plot. A lot of people already know that I am terrible at writing humor fics, but I am an insistent person! XD  
  
At the beginning of this fic, Hsi Wu wasn't born yet. Shendu and Xiao Fung are still little children, etc... ^_^  
  
Disclaimer: Except for the characters that I've created myself, I own nothing!  
  
Ok, I'm not going to bother you with my long author notes. Let the story begin!  
  
*****  
  
Chapter 1: Perdition Forest  
  
Bai Tsa and Jin were walking side by side. Jin was talking about her trip with her siblings to a remote zone of the African continent, though Bai Tsa wasn't interested in that at all.  
  
"...Andthentheybegantorunafterusandwehadnootherchoicenutrunmoreandmoreandthe nwereachedaprecipiceandwelookedbehindusandtheywerealreadycathingusupandwefin allydecidedtojumpthatwasreallythemostcourageousandexcitingthingthatwehaveeve rdone...", Jin said without stopping, very fast. It looked like she never lost her breath. She was a demon, but that was already too much. Bai Tsa didn't even understand what her friend was saying, and wished from the heart that she shut up for at least one second.  
  
"Are you listening to me, Bai?", Jin finally calmed down to ask. Bai let out a mental sigh and thanked for the moment of almost silence. She tried to enjoy the other sounds of nature, since she knew that Jin would continue her endless speech again after answering her question.  
  
"Yes, Jin, I am.", Bai replied and drew a deep breath in order to not get annoyed.  
  
"How am I supposed to know if you are listening to me if I'm the only one here who is talking?"  
  
"So what do you suggest?"  
  
"Just agree. That makes me calmer.", Jin said and when seeing that Bai nodded, she smiled pleased and drew a deep breath.  
  
"Backtothesubjectwejumpedtheprecipiceandfellinalakewithalotofmeateatingpiran hasandtheywereeverywhereandtherewereyetthecannibalsandthebatsandthezumbiesan dthebeesandthesnakesandtheywereallafterus-"  
  
"Uh-huh..."  
  
"Andwehadonlytwooptionstobedevouredortodevourallthemweobviouslychosethesecon doptionatndgesswhatwewon-"  
  
"Uh-huh..."  
  
"OfcourseIwasthestrongerthereandIwoneasilyandevenhelpedmysiblingstheywerever yproudofmeandforthelasttimeIprovedthatIhavecouragenowtheyallrespectmeandIcou ldnotbehappierinmywholelife!"  
  
"Yes, very cool, Jin."  
  
"What about you? Didn't you travel during the summer?"  
  
"Not yet. We had some problems. But I and my sibling are going to travel to the south of China."  
  
"What part of the south?"  
  
"Did you already hear about the 'Perdition Forest'?", Bai asked and Jin was in shock.  
  
"Don't tell me you're going...", Jin paused and swallowed. "...there? Bai Tsa, that place is cursed!"  
  
"C'mon, don't be sil-", Bai Tsa could finish her sentence, because her head was hit by a stone that had been thrown from their left side. Bai fell in the ground and Jin looked at her friend.  
  
"You see? I told you that you should watch your step, even if you're a water demon.", Jin said and Bai didn't beat her up because she preferred to know who had thrown the stone. There was a small bruise in her head, and when feeling that some blood was dropping, Bai clenched her fist while holding the stone with her other hand.  
  
She looked at her left side and felt her blood boiling when seeing who was there. She saw Xiao Fung holding a stick and Shendu holding a stone. And there were a lot of them beside him in the ground.  
  
"SHENDU!!!!!!!!", she shouted stomping angrily in his direction.  
  
"I can tolerate very much things from you, but to hit me with stones? Now you went too far! Let's see the damage that those stones can do to your face!!", she threatened raising her hand with the stone ready to throw it against Shendu, but Xiao Fung managed to stop her on time by holding her arm.  
  
"Calm down, my sister! He didn't do that on purpose!", Xiao said quickly and Bai Tsa turned her rage to him.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"We two were training. He had to throw the stones and I had to rebut them with the stick.", Xiao explained and began to rotate the stick, but he ended up hitting her sister's stomach accidentally.  
  
"Oops. Sorry, Bai.", Xiao said rubbing the back of his head with his hand and smiling innocently. Bai glared at her two brothers.  
  
"I think you two want to die today! Why didn't you just ask? You would have a faster and painless death."  
  
"But it's not our fault that you're always in our way.", Xiao defended.  
  
"Looks like you're going to be the first, Xiao! Die!", she shouted ready to hit him, but this time was stopped by Jin.  
  
"Leave them alone, Bai. After all, they're soooo cute!", Jin said caressing their heads. Unlike Shendu, Xiao didn't mind about that and even liked it.  
  
"They are two pests!"  
  
Jin ignored Bai and knelt down to look at them in their eyes.  
  
"Bai told me that you're going to travel to the south. Aren't you afraid? I heard that there are ghosts there.", Jin commented and Shendu smirked, crossing his arms proudly.  
  
"I know, that's because I suggested that place. Bai Tsa is afraid of ghosts.", he said.  
  
"I am not! Besides, I- Wait! So it was you who suggested that place? Grrr, you'll pay!", she snapped preparing to hit her little brother again, but he ran away from her and then stopped some meters from there.  
  
"She's afraid of cockroaches too!", he yelled and ran away again when Bai went after him very angry.  
  
"Why you--!", she shouted while pursuing him. Xiao blinked twice.  
  
"Hey, Bai Tsa! Actually, it was Tchang Zu who suggested that place!", he yelled, but Bai didn't hear him or thought that still had good reasons to beat her youngest brother.  
  
-/-/-  
  
All the seven siblings and two guides - a man and a woman - were walking in the middle of a forest, at night, with only the moonlight illuminating their way. When they arrived in a more open area of the forest, the guides stopped.  
  
"We've arrived.", the man announced and the demons glanced around themselves.  
  
"But there's nothing here.", Xiao commented when they saw nothing special in the forest.  
  
"Oh, of course there is. There are the trees, the stones, the grass, the cockroaches...", the man said and Bai felt cold shivers going down her spine.  
  
"Cockroach?! Where?", she asked jumping and holding Tso Lan's neck. He had been beside her until now and had to hold her so that she wouldn't fall in the ground.  
  
"Hehehe, there's no cockroach here. I just wanted to know if it was true that a demon like you is afraid of so much inoffensive insects."  
  
"I am not afraid of them! I just can't stand them! They're nasty!"  
  
"Look, a cockroach on your head!", the guide said pointing at her head.  
  
"Ahhhh! Get out! Get out! Get out! Aww, Disgusting!!!", she yelled kicking and punching nothing and sometimes Tso Lan, who almost fell in the ground with her. Xiao laughed.  
  
"Think for the good side, Tso Lan. At least it's not Po Kong who's afraid of cockroaches.", the wind demon said and Tso Lan closed his eyes, trying to calm down and pretend that had not heard that last remark.  
  
"Calm down, Bai Tsa. There's no cockroach here.", the guide repeated, but Bai was still unsure and thought that it was very safer to stay with Tso Lan.  
  
-/-/-  
  
The man taught the demons how to put up a tent where they could sleep at night. It wasn't very successful, since they were a bit clumsy. The worst case was Po Kong's, who had difficulties in... fitting in the tent. She wasn't as big as a house yet, but was very big anyway.  
  
"Very well, children. You've done a good job with the tents.", the man said pleased and on that exact moment Xiao's tent took down. Apparently the guide didn't mind at all and continued to smile in approval.  
  
"Tomorrow, I'll teach you about worms.", the guide said.  
  
"But Dai already knows everything about worms.", the earth demon said.  
  
"Who would want to know something like that, after all?", Bai muttered and the woman, who had been quiet until now, clenched her fists and took her whip. She glared at the demons, her eyes red of rage.  
  
"SILENCE! YOU ARE GOING TO LEARN EVERYTHING ABOUT WORMS AND DO THAT WITH YOUR MOUTH SHUT!", she shouted and stretched her whip with her hands.  
  
"Listen to me, you retarded, imbecile brats... I don't care if you are demons! I may be a human, but I used to be an excellent demon exterminator and I always killed easily demons bigger and more dangerous than all of you together! Then you better do as I demand!!!", she continued and when finishing her sentence, she whipped a tree, breaking it into small pieces.  
  
The demons stared horrified at the ex-tree and gulped. Even the older ones had to admit that this woman was really dangerous and insane. It would be healthier for them if they obeyed the guides.  
  
"I hope it is clear enough to all of you, because if its not, I will have pleasure...", she said pressing the whip and the demons flinched. "...of teaching you with my own methods! And believe me, you do not want to learn with my own methods!", she said slowly. They heard a noise of something moving in a bush, and the woman glared at that direction.  
  
"DIE YOU INTRUDER!!!", she shouted throwing a big knife that was in a hem hanging in her waist. She got to hit the 'intruder' and when the man approached of it in order to see what it was, he made a grimace of disgust and took it.  
  
"Look, you hit a squirrel.", he said and the demons turned very pale when seeing that the man was very sure that that thing had once been a squirrel. Well, now it didn't even looked like something of this planet, it was very deformed...  
  
"Good, now that can go to my collection... bwahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!", the woman laughed evilly and the man put away the... squirrel... in a bag. 


	2. Accidental Murders

I didn't think that this chapter was very funny, but people who already read it said that it's still good. Tell me your opinion, just don't flame me, ok?

Shendu and Xiao Fung are so childish in this chapter! Maybe even OOC... Do I really have to say that all the time? Yes I do... 

*****

**Chapter 2: Accidental Murders**

The guides had finally slept and the demons took advantage of that and went walk along the forest. It was very big and was easy to get lost there. But, of course, the dangers of the forest were nothing compared to that guide. 

"I don't want to continue here with that psychotic guide!", Shendu complained. 

"Come on, it's just for one week. Hold on a little more.", Tchang said trying to sound encourager, though he himself wanted to go home as soon as possible. 

"It's Tchang Zu's fault, he was the one who suggested this place.", Po Kong dared to say and the thunder demon frowned. 

"Even if we had gone to any other place, the guides would be the same ones.", he defended Po shrugged. 

"Whatever. Why don't we rip those two apart and go back to our home?", she suggested. 

"We cannot defeat that maniac. She was an exterminator, remember?", Dai answered. 

"Hey, Bai Tsa...", Xiao called grinning and appearing behind her. 

"What is it?" 

"Did you know that this place is know for having many ghosts and curses?", he asked and Bai snorted. 

"Nonsense... Ghosts do not exist...", she crossing her arms. Suddenly, she felt something spookily touching her shoulders followed by a scream. 

"BOOO!!!" 

"AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!", she screamed jumping to Tso Lan's involuntary embrace again. Xiao, Shendu and Dai began to laugh, and she went down to the ground. 

"You are afraid of ghosts!", Xiao said pointing at her. 

"I am not! You just caught me unawares!" 

-=-=-=-=-

He was a rich and solitary man. He lived in his castle that was many kilometers far from any villa. However, that solitude didn't bother him at all, even when he was already forty years. 

He opened the window and looked at the moon. The night was beautiful thanks to the starry sky and the full moon. A perfect night to go for a walk around the forest. Since it wasn't very cold, he decided that it would be really a good idea. 

As he walked there, he began to hear some voices. He thought that it should be someone trying to find a ghost. Due to his freaky appearance and his very pale skin, he had the fame of being the ghost of that region. Some people always went to the forest hoping to find the famous ghost, without knowing that he actually was just a normal man. 

After some time, he started to find very amusing to pretend being a ghost and scaring everyone. Though people had stopped coming for a good while. Now when he paid attention, it seemed to be a group of at least five people. 

He followed the voices until finding the group. When he came closer, he saw that they weren't people, but demons. Their ages were varied, and most was child or adolescent. That didn't matter. Certainly he would get to give them a fright. 

That sounded a bit dangerous. After all, if the demons found out that he was just a common man playing a dirty trick on them, they would kill him. All right, he just had to be fast. Just give them a fright and then run away. The man smirked quietly. It has been a long while since when he had fun like that... 

-=-=-=-=-

The demons were in silence for a while as they continued walking for the forest. Suddenly, Po glanced around herself and noticed something. 

"Where are Xiao and Shendu?", she asked and the group stopped. They also glanced around themselves and didn't see the two youngest demons. 

"I don't know...", Tchang answered shrugging. 

"They must be hiding to give Bai Tsa a fright.", Dai guessed. 

"Or perhaps they have unintentionally moved away and got lost.", Tso Lan said. 

"Maybe they were caught by the ghost.", Dai said and Bai took it seriously and felt a cold shiver going down her spine, although she has tried to look completely calm. 

-=-=-=-=-

Shendu and Xiao were following their siblings from a certain distance. They were planning to catch Bai unawares again and give her a fright. It had been Xiao's idea, and Shendu didn't like his childish games, but when the intention was to annoy Bai Tsa, he accepted with no hesitation. Suddenly, Shendu stopped and was thoughtful. Xiao turned around and approached of his brother. 

"What?" 

"Bai Tsa will never be alone. We need to move her away from our siblings." 

"Ok, so what do you suggest?" 

"I don't know yet." 

"Then think of something already!" 

"I'm trying, I cannot think with you talking at the same time!" 

"It's because if I don't talk anything I won't be sure that you are going to think." 

"Why it's just me who has to think?" 

"Because it was you who said that had to think." 

"I didn't say that. I just remarked that we need to move Bai away from our siblings." 

"But you always say that you're more intelligent than me. Then you think and I just make sure that you're thinking." 

"You are such a lazy demon! Now think of something already!" 

"Why do I have to think?" 

"Because it was your idea." 

"But you agreed." 

The man slowly approached of the two demons, hiding in the bushes. For his luck, the two youngest ones – therefore easiest to get scared ones – ended up going far away from the others and were alone. 

"I don't want to know. You said that you were going to think and...", Xiao stopped as he saw that Shendu was staring quite uneasy at his right side. 

"What is it now?" 

"There's something observing us...", Shendu answered and Xiao glanced around himself. 

"Shendu... Where are our siblings?", Xiao asked really worried now. 

"What... what do you mean? We are alone here with something observing us?" 

"Shendu, nothing is observing us. This forest doesn't have even cockroaches... I am more concerned about our siblings." 

"Our siblings can take care of them selves, but we are alone here and there is...", Shendu pointed to a bush. "...something observing us." Xiao looked carefully at the bush and didn't see anything. 

"There's nothing there... Let's go.", he said turning to go away and pulling his brother. After half an hour wandering around the forest, they reached to the brilliant conclusion that they were lost. 

"Considering the position of the moon it's almost midnight already. Perhaps they have gone back to the camp.", Shendu said trying to calm his older brother who was beginning to panic. 

"It's all your fault, because you wanted to think!", Xiao blamed and began to cry. Shendu sighed and didn't even snap at him. Shendu felt that something was observing them again, this time behind his brother. He saw a shadow leaving the bush and walking slowly to them. When the moonlight reached the creature, Shendu widened his eyes as he saw a thin and white being, with big and sharp yellow nails, grinning spookily. 

Xiao stopped crying when seeing his brother's shock state. 

"What...?", he asked sobbing and Shendu pointed to behind Xiao. The wind demon turned and was equally shocked. 

"G... G... G... G... G... Gh... Gh... Gh... Gho.... Gho......", Xiao stuttered stepping back slowly and Shendu also backed away. 

"GHOST!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!", they finally screamed at the same time and run away as fast as they could. 

-=-=-=-=-

"Do you hear something?", Bai asked and the sound became much clearer – and loud – when the two youngest demons came running from the middle of the forest and coincidentally met their siblings. 

"Ah, we finally found you.", Tchang said. 

"What happened?", Tso asked seeing the expression of terror in his younger brother's faces. 

"G-Ghost!!!", the two said pointing at the direction where they had come and everybody looked at there. 

"There's no ghost! You must have been imagining things!", Dai said impatiently. 

"It's true! He was all white, with big and sharp nails claws...", Shendu said and Xiao took a big stone of the ground. 

"Each one takes a stone, then we all go there and we show you!", Xiao proposed and Bai snorted. 

"Stop that! There's no ghost in this damn forest!", she took the stone from Xiao's hand. "Let's forget that and return to the camp.", she said throwing back the ston. They heard a sound of something beating and what seemed to be a pain groan. Everybody looked at the direction where Bai Tsa had thrown the stone and they saw that something white was fallen in the ground. When they went closer, Shendu and Xiao shivered. 

"That's him!" 

"It's the ghost!" 

Tso Lan and Tchang Zu knelt down to watch the body more closely. The man's head was bleeding and the stone was almost all covered with blood. There was also some blood in a tree close to him. 

"It's not a ghost, it's a human. He's just kind of anemic...", Tchang said and the two youngest demons glanced at each other. 

"So he was just an idiotic human wanting to give us a fright?", Shendu snapped angry. 

"Or maybe we have been hasty...", Xiao commented. 

"We should beat him up to death!" 

Tchang Zu placed his hand on the right part of the man's thorax. Tso Lan raised a brow trying to understand what he was doing. 

"You can't do that anymore. Bai Tsa has already killed him.", Tchang said. 

"How do you know?", Tso asked. 

"I saw that his heart is not beating anymore." 

"But... the heart is on the left side of the chest, not on the right side.", Tso tried to explain. 

"You dare to question me?", Tchang shouted. 

"But..." 

"No! I am the oldest and I know when a human is dead or not!" 

-=-=-=-=-

The male guide opened his eyes. He was thirsty, but fortunately he knew where he could find water. However, as soon as he got up, he saw that the demons weren't there. He found better not to tell his wife. She could want to hunt them, calling them of ingrates and that certainly wouldn't end well to anybody. 

-=-=-=-=-

"All right, all right... He is dead...", Tso finally said after a long argue and snorted, while Tchang smiled in victory. 

"What do we do now?", Po asked. 

"What do you mean?" 

"Bai killed that man, we cannot just leave him here." 

"Why not?" 

"If that guide finds out that we killed a human, she is going to kill us!" 

Tchang thought for a while and admitted that she was right. 

"Very well. We have just to get rid of the body.", he decided. 

"What are we going to do? Eat him?", Po asked and everybody observed the man carefully. 

"Ugh!", they all said together, making a disgust face. 

"No way I am going to eat that... that... thing!", Shendu said pointing at the man. 

"It must be spoiled.", Xiao added. 

"We don't have to eat him. Let's throw him in a river.", Bai suggested. 

"There's no river here.", Dai Gui said and she shook her head. 

"I am the water demon. I can feel the water. And right now feel that there is a river near here." 

"Well, let's go then!", Tchang ordered. They 'packed' the man's body with some big leaves and tied it with vines. Bai Tsa found the river and they all helped to throw the body. The current quickly took it and the demons sighed in relieve. What they didn't know was that the man was still alive. Even so, now it was already too late. His fate was already sealed. 

The demons went back to the forest. Now it had passed some minutes after midnight, and Bai Tsa looked upward to see the moon. Bai Tsa liked the moon, since it reminded her of Tso Lan, one of her favorite siblings. When Bai Tsa lowered her glance again, she heard a quiet sound from her left side and looked at there to see what it was. She found herself staring at a pale face, with half-open eyes. 

"AHHHHH!!!! A GHOST!!!!!", she screamed and instinctively punched the ghost. He was thrown some meters away and fell to the ground, where he stayed motionless. 

Her siblings were alarmed with her scream and ran back to her. Bai Tsa was still trembling, staring at the 'ghost'. 

"What happened, Bai Tsa?", Tchang asked in worry and she pointed at the body. 

"A ghost!" 

"Why is he fallen in the ground?", Shendu asked raising a brow. 

"Because I punched that bastard!", she answered. 

"If he is a ghost, how did you get to punch him?", Tso asked and everybody was in silence. 

"Don't tell me you knocked down another human...", Tchang said. 

"Uh..." was the only thing that Bai managed to say. They approached of the body and saw that it was really another human, but the only one that should never be killed. They stared horrified at the guide, and this time it was obvious that he was dead. 

"Bai Tsa, you broke the guide's neck???", Tchang yelled placing his hands on his head. 

"I wasn't on purpose..." 

"THERE YOU ARE!!!!!", the female guide suddenly appeared behind them, and they froze. The woman stretched her whip angry. 

"I looked for you everywhere!!! And where's my husband???", she asked, apparently not seeing the dead man in the ground. Shendu took advantage of that and fixed the position of the man's neck. 

"Uh... your husband... he...", Tchang murmured and the woman looked at something behind him. 

"Ah, there you are, honey.", she said lovely. Bai Tsa and Dai Gui were one in each side of the man, who now was standing up and nodding. 

"Uh... Yeah... I was here teaching to the children about the bats.", he replied. 

"Your voice is different...", the woman commented and Dai kicked Xiao, who was standing down behind the man, closing his nose. The wind demon flinched and cleared his throat. 

"Erh... It's because of this cold air of the forest... I think I caught a cold... But I'm ok.", he said and the man's head tumbled exaggeratedly forward. Bai flinched and took his head from the back again, pulling it to where it should be. 

"Oh, alright...", the woman said smiling. "I'll be waiting for you in the camp.", she continued turning to go away. When she was already far away, Dai and Bai sighed in relieve and let the man's body go. Xiao stood up and the demons gathered in a circle. 

"After that. We should go to the Japanese doll's theater.", Xiao remarked. 


	3. The Old Witch

I'm so happy for the nice reviews! Thank you very much, **VampireNaomi** and **Forgotten Love**!^^

Here's chapter 3. Unfortunately I take too long to write a new chapter of this fic, since I'm able to write humor fics only when I'm really inspired or when I'm on a "humor mood". And of course, reviews contribute to keep me writing too. 

Aww, little Xiao Fung is so cute! I hope you don't mind if I make him cry often, but I think it's just like him when he was a child!^^ And probably he was the naive type too... hehe, you'll see him like this in all of my fics. 

*****

**Chapter 3: The Old Witch**

"That's it! Now we are all going to die!", Bai Tsa said desperate. 

"Indeed, even if we get rid of the guide's body, his wife will note his absence sooner or later!", Shendu added. 

"It's ok, we just have to pretend that we don't know about it. We go back to the camping and-"

"I don't want to go back to the camping! I am still very young to die!", Xiao Fung interrupted and Tchang Zu swallowed. 

"Do not worry, let's just say that he accidentally went too far away from us and didn't return. She will think that some wild animal attacked him. Simple.", the thunder demon said calmly and the other felt a bit better. 

"All right... let's go...", Po Kong said softly pushing her two youngest brothers when it seemed that they weren't going to move. They didn't remember very well where the camping was, but obviously it was in the direction from where the female guide had come before when she had surprised them. 

However, before they got to the camping, they saw a mysterious and gloomy figure, slightly hunched, with uncombed gray hair, wearing a black robe and a hood, staring at the ground. The demons yelped as they saw that creature. It looked at them and everybody noticed that it was actually an old woman who resembled an occidental witch. The woman laughed when she saw the demons staring at her both confused and curious. 

"Who are you?", Tchang Zu dared to ask. 

"Nobody important, just an old woman from a villa of the south.", she answered smiling. 

"Then what are you doing here?", Dai Gui asked. The woman approached of them and grinned spookily. 

"The spirits told me that something had happened here!", she said almost yelling and the demons glanced at each other. 

"The spirits?", Po repeated. 

"What?! You cannot hear the spirits?!", the old woman asked in shock and the demons shook their heads. 

"Only using spells.", Tso pointed. 

"Oh, but what is this world becoming...? When I had your age I could already clearly hear the spirits!" 

"I think we are still older than you nowadays...", Bai Tsa remarked and the old woman made a gesture so that they kept in silence. 

"Aren't you hearing? The spirits are talking... Are you hearing?", she whispered and they were quiet trying to hear something. 

"Hey, I think I'm hearing them.", Xiao said happily. 

"It's just the wind, Xiao.", Tso Lan said. 

"No, no... It's the spir- Oh, wait... it's just the wind..." 

"Ahh, I don't believe! Xiao! You are the wind demon! You are supposed to recognize the sound of the wind!", Bai Tsa criticized. 

"You are disturbing the spirits!", the woman complained and everybody turned their glances to her again. "The spirits told me a very important thing!" 

"And what is it?", Tchang Zu asked already losing his patience. 

"I'll tell you only if you give me blood.", she said calmly crossing her arms behind her. 

"Blood?", they repeated. 

"And why the hell do you want blood?!", Tchang wanted to know. 

"And it must be a mammal animal's blood. It can't be demon's blood." 

The demons glanced at each other and after a while each one went to a different direction. 

"A mammal animal!", Bai Tsa yelled seeking in the bushes and trees as well as her siblings were doing. 

"I found it!", Xiao announced and they gathered. 

"You got blood, Xiao?", Po Kong confirmed and he nodded. 

"Yes, it's here!", he said lifting a dead crow and everybody slit their eyes. 

"Xiao, crow is not a mammal! It is a bird!", Bai Tsa snapped. 

"Birds aren't mammals?", the little demon asked. 

"NO!", they answered at the same time. 

"Wait, what's a mammal animal?", Xiao asked and they almost fell down. 

"Idiot!!!", Bai Tsa, Dai Gui, Tchang Zu and Shendu shouted. 

"OHHH, NOOOOOOO!!!!!", the woman yelled and ran to them until getting to Xiao and took the dead crow. "Hei Ya!!!", she cried on the crow as if it were a tissue. 

"What?", Bai Tsa asked. 

"He was my pet crow!!! My dear Hei Ya!!!" 

"Uh... My condolences...", Tso Lan said. 

"Come on, let's look for a mammal animal!", Tchang Zu reminded and they dispersed again. Xiao, who still didn't know what a mammal meant, stood there looking at the woman. 

"Hey, since he's dead now, can I eat him?", the wind demon asked and the woman looked seriously at him. 

"Sure, at least it won't be wasted.", she said shrugging and giving the crow to him. 

-=-=-=-=-

Dai Gui knelt down to look for a mammal in the bushes and Shendu was near him glancing around himself. The dragon heard an insect buzzing and noted that a mosquito landed on Dai Gui's back. Shendu smirked when he had an idea and he slowly approached of the earth demon from behind. 

"Brother Dai, don't move...", he said in a low voice. 

"What?" 

'PAFT'

-=-=-=-=-

"We found it!", Dai Gui announced and they gathered again. Tso Lan noticed that Shendu had a bump on his head. 

"Shendu, what happened?" 

"I found a mosquito and thought it would be a good idea to take the blood that the mosquito had sucked from some animal. But... it landed on Dai Gui's back and I killed it while it was still there... and then Dai hit me...", the little fire demon said whining and Dai Gui snorted. 

"Here it is!", he said handing over the mosquito to the woman, who kept it in a bag. After a long and silent time, she finally decided to say something. 

"Why did I ask you to bring me blood?" 

"Uh...", they murmured thoughtful, obviously not remembering either. 

"Oh, it's because the spirits told you something very important.", Po Kong reminded and the old woman nodded. 

"Ah, that's right. Well, they told me that you accidentally did the... riiiiiiiiitual!", she said spookily and trying to sound scarier, but the demons just blinked. 

"What ritual?", Bai asked after a while and the woman came out in a cold sweat and cleared her throat. 

"I'll tell you only if you give me tears of toad.", she said and they groaned impatiently. 

"Enough! Why do you want those things???", Tchang asked angry. 

"Relax, that's easy to get.", Bai Tsa said calmly and walked to innocent Xiao Fung. She clenched her fist and lifted it to right after that hit her younger brother's head. He started trying to suppress his crying, then after whining he burst into tears. 

"Waaahhhh, Bai Tsa hit me!!!!" 

"Here are the tears of toad.", the water demon said pointing at him and the woman smiled pleased. 

"Excellent.", she said taking a tissue from her bag and wiped his tears. He even stopped crying, just sobbed. Then she kept the tissue in her bag again and looked at them. 

"You accidentally did the ritual of the darkness. It is a ritual with several steps and hard to do because of the short time. First, you have to slaughter a human. Then you have to mark a stone and a tree with his or her blood, and then wrap the body with leaves and tie it with vines in just few minutes and then finally throw it in a river at exactly midnight!" 

"Funny... it looks like what we did to that strange old man...", Xiao commented. 

"It's exactly what we did to him!!!", Bai Tsa yelled. 

"Oh..." 

"It means that you have just started a curse.", the old woman continued. 

"What curse?", Po wanted to know. 

"I'll tell you only if you give me tongue of lizard.", she demanded again and they looked at Shendu, who pressed hi mouth with his hands. 

"Don't even think of that, I'm not even a lizard! I am a dragon!", he said with his voice muffled by his hands. 

"Enough! We won't continue giving you those strange things just to hear a lot of nonsense!", Tchang Zu snapped. 

"Indeed, I don't believe in that curse thing!", Bai agreed. 

"But without me you will never know how to put an end to the curse." 

"There is no curse!", Bai insisted approaching of her. The other demons also had enough of it and followed their sister's example. 

"You dare to threaten a poor old woman? You're really naughty children. In my age, naughty children always were slapped." 

"Stop fooling around. I'm very hungry to hear your boring speech.", Po Kong said licking her lips. 

"You cannot kill me... The spirits protect me." 

"Oh, really? I'd like to see if they can protect you from this!", Tchang shouted raising a fist but they were surprised by a whip snap. 

"WHY ARE YOU TAKING SO LONG??????", the female guide asked with her eyes almost as red as the demon's. The siblings froze when seeing her angrier than she ever could be. 

"Those naughty children need some slaps.", the old woman said and the guide raised her whip. 

"No, they need such a thrashing that they'll never again be even recognized by their father!!!" 

The demons stepped back in terror and she glared daggers at them. 

"Where is my husband???" 

"He... I... we... it's... well... kind of... like...", they stuttered and the old woman smiled. 

"The spirits said that a wild animal attacked your husband.", she said and the demons sighed in relieve. "Oh, no... wait... what? Oh...", she talked alone, and nodded several times. "Lou, how many times do I have to say that you must pay attention to the whole conversation before reaching any conclusion? ... No, no! Hanya has just told me that they were going to lie about the guide being attacked by wild animals!" 

"Uh... Excuse me... Who are you talking to?", the guide asked politely. 

"What do you think? To the spirits, of course!" 

"Oh... And... do you know where my husband is...?", the guide tried again and the old woman pointed at the demons, who were quietly slipping away on tiptoe. 

"They broke your husband's neck.", she blamed and the guide's expression turned evil again. The demons were pale and shivered. 

"I SHALL KILL ALL OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", she shouted and charged at them with her whip and taking her knife with her free hand. 

"AAAHHHH!!!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIFES!!!!!!!", Po Kong yelled. 

"Wait! Tchang Zu is the oldest and our leader! Go and face her, Tchang!", Bai Tsa said pushing the thunder demon, who tried to look courageous and stood there facing the angry guide. Meanwhile all his siblings hid behind him. 

"Y-You... w-w-will... n-not... b-b-beat... u-us... m-mo-mortal...", Tchang stuttered trying to look brave, though the sound of his knees shaking could be clearly heard. The guide threw her knife at him and almost hit his heart. Luckily he was very fast and it just bruised his shoulder. Tchang came out in a sweat cold and slowly turned to face his brothers and sisters. 

"EACH DEMON FOR HIMSELF!!!!!!!", he yelled in despair and everybody began to run like crazies for the whole forest while being pursued by the guide, or actually, the demons exterminator. Meanwhile, the old witch calmly watched that scene. 

"That's what happens with naughty children who don't help me to prepare my potion." 


	4. The End of the Guides

_Right now I don't feel anything else but shame_

_If this chapter sucks, please don't flame_

... 

I'll try to write something better for the next chapters.^^" Anyway, thank you for the reviews! 

***** 

**Chapter 4: The End of the Guides**

"AHHHHH!!!!!!!", the demons screamed in panic while running frenetically for the forest not even paying attention to what they were doing anymore. The guide ran furiously after them and the old witch still thought all this was very fun. She shook her head and turned to go away, disappearing in the shades. 

Then the ex-guide realized she should kill them one by one. And obviously she would start with the youngest and defenseless ones. She immediately located Shendu and Xiao Fung, who were coincidentally running to out the forest. The woman smirked evilly in victory, now she could kill two demons with only one knife blow. 

-=-=-=-=-

"AHHHH!!!!"!, Shendu screamed running from one side, getting out of the forest. 

"BWAAAAHHH!!!!!!", Xiao came crying from the other side, running into the fire demons. They bumped into each other and fell to the ground. "Ow, my head...", Xiao murmured rubbing his forehead and Shendu rose to sit and glared at his older brother. 

"You idiot, why don't you look where you're going???" 

"HAA!", a voice shouted and they flinched, looking slowly at the direction where it came from. They froze as they saw the guide with a knife in her hand, ready to slash them. The duo barely had time to run away, she approached and grabbed Shendu by his neck. 

"You will be the first to die!", she said aiming the knife at his face and the dragon tried to break free, but this woman was incredibly strong when angry. And because he was still a child, he couldn't breathe fire or use any type of magic to defend himself. 

When the woman was about to kill him, she felt a pain in her left leg that made her scream and let him go. Shendu looked at her to see what was going on and saw Xiao Fung biting her leg. 

"Hey, that's my leg! Get out, get out!", she demanded shaking her leg and hopping forward. Her screams attracted the rest of the demons' attention and they gathered where the trio was. As soon as they arrived, most of them widened their eyes, but Bai Tsa just smiled. 

"Go, Xiao!", she cheered and then they noted the woman was unintentionally hopping toward a cliff. 

"Xiao, look out!", Tso Lan alerted. 

"Let her go now!", Tchang Zu ordered. 

"You little pest! Get out!", the woman shouted and finally the little demon decided to let her go. He gave a slight jump back and landed softly on his feet. The guide, on the other side, lost her balance and fell in the cliff... three meters high, and ended up inside a barrel that was being taken by a cart pulled by a donkey. All the demons ran to the edge of the cliff and looked at down. 

"Ooh!", the man in the cart said so that the donkey stopped and he looked at back. "I think it's going to rain...", the man murmured to himself and the woman suddenly stood up inside the barrel, drawing a deep breath and then sobbing. "Aiyaaa! What's that???" 

"You- hic! idiots...!", the woman yelled swaying back and forth and leaned on the rim of the barrel. 

"Hmm... Humans have a very good taste!", Xiao Fung said licking the blood in his lips and smiling pleased. 

"Thank you, though I personally prefer pink styles...", she said visibly beside herself. 

"She fell in a sake barrel...", Tso Lan said glancing at Tchang Zu, who smiled. 

"Hey, you!", he yelled to the man in the cart, who glanced at his left and right before pointing at himself with a confused expression. 

"Who? Me?" 

Tchang nodded. 

"Take that woman to far away as fast as possible!" 

"No way.", the man replied shaking his head. "This woman dove in the sake. Now I have to return to the villa near here and get more." 

"Come one, don't you know that now is very common in China to serve sake along with a woman? The men love it!", Bai Tsa said smiling slyly and the man's eye twinkled. 

"Really? Why didn't you say that before?" He left as fast as he could with his old cart and Xiao made a bored face. 

"Are you sure we cannot eat her?" 

"Notch eater? hic! Who is- hic! notch eater??? Grrrr, you- hic! will pay, you- hic! damn demons!", the woman shouted completely drunk and the demons sighed in relieve while observing the cart disappearing in the horizon. They couldn't believe they had finally gotten rid of that crazy exterminator! 

However, Tso Lan frowned in worry. Those guides were two of their parents' favorite slaves, mainly the man, who had already served the family for a long while. Their parents probably wouldn't be very happy when they knew the two were dead because of the demons. The moon demon turned to face his siblings and looked at Tchang Zu. 

"Our parents will not like to know about what happened.", he stated with a warning tone and Tchang nodded. 

"That's why we'll lie if we are asked about it." 

"But lie to our parents? Is that really a good idea?", Dai Gui asked and Bai shrugged. 

"What's the problem? They'll never find out the truth anyway." 

"Yes, but-" 

"Enough! Listen to me!", Tchang interrupted. "ALL of you have to promise you'll never tell anyone what really happened here! Clear???" 

"But...", the earth demon tried again and his oldest brother's eyes glowed red. 

"Shut up, you moron!!!", he shouted punching Dai Gui, who ended up losing his balance and falling on Shendu. 

"Dai, are you ok?", Bai Tsa asked kneeling down, but he had passed out. 

"Look what you did, Tchang... Now someone has to carry him.", Po Kong said. 

"True, then carry him.", the thunder demon ordered and Po sighed rolling her eyes. She lifted her unconscious brother, freeing Shendu, who was sprawled in the ground. 

"Hehe! Shendu looks like an okonomiyaki.", Xiao Fung remarked amused and Po stared at the dragon, widening her eyes and salivating. 

"Hmm... Okonomiyaki...", she murmured. 

"Not now, Po.", Bai said slapping her face in order to make her sister come around. 

"Stop fooling around, we have to go back home!", Tchang reminded beginning to walk away and the demons followed him, except Shendu. 

"Hey, could someone carry me too?", he asked weakly, making a huge effort to get up. The group stopped and turned to look at him. 

"No!", the oldest one answered sharply. 

"But I was just crushed by Dai Gui, how do you expect that I-" 

"Manage it! If you can't walk, you can stay here." 

"But what about our mother?", Po reminded and the others flinched. 

"Well, then someone there carries him.", Tchang decided and they glanced at each other. 

"Don't count on me.", Bai Tsa said quickly, crossing her arms and looking away. 

"I'm already carrying Dai." 

"Xiao, take your brother.", Tso ordered. 

"What?! ME???" 

"Yes, you." The group continued walking away and the wind demon tried to lift Shendu, but he was very heavy for little Xiao, who barely took three steps forward and lost his balance toward the ravine – the same before considered a cliff. 

"Hurry! We won't wait for you, you know!", Bai yelled from a distance already and the two youngest demons could just groan in pain and mutter some curses. 

-=-=-=-=-

The demons smiled pleased as they caught sight of their father's palace. When they were about to continue, Bai Tsa stopped and crossed her arms deep in thought. Her siblings also stopped and looked at her. 

"What?", Po Kong asked. 

"I don't know why, but I feel like we are forgetting something very important..." 

Shendu frowned in annoyance and snorted. 

"Ah, not now! Let's go back to the palace already! After everything we went through, tiring trips, boring guide, maniac exterminator, ghosts, freak witch-" 

"It's that!", Bai Tsa interrupted. 

"That what?" 

"I knew we were forgetting something very important! That strange witch knows what we did to the guides and we forgot to get rid of her too!" 

Shendu sighed in frustration and Tchang Zu's eyes glowed red. 

"Grrr, and only now you remember??? Let's go back there right now and-" 

"Go back to where?", a voice asked calmly behind them and they yelped in surprise almost having a heart attack. 

"F-F-F-F-FATHER?!" 

"Welcome back, my children!" 

The demons bowed and forced themselves to smile. Only Tso Lan, as usual, looked calm. Looked... 

"It's good to be back.", the oldest ones managed to say and their father – a black demons with some golden plots and stripes, with a dangerous appearance even when he was on a good mood, and who looked like a slight mix of all his children physical characteristics, though he resembled Dai Gui or even Tchang Zu the most – nodded. 

"How good to know that, because you've just said you wanted to go back." 

"Uh? Oh, no... We weren't going back there..." 

"Then where were you going?" 

His children gasped and gulped, then began to stutter at the same time trying to come up with a good excuse. Their father raised a brow and they were finally silent. Dai Gui was the first to speak. 

"I have to say the truth... Actually-" 

"Shut up!!!", Tchang shouted charging at his younger brother. 

"What happened?", their father asked and Po shrugged. 

"You know those two..." 

He nodded and then remembered something. 

"Where are the guides that traveled with you?" 

This time the demons turned pale and out of words. Even Tchang Zu stopped attacking Dai Gui. Tso Lan coughed quietly and elbowed Po Kong, who flinched and tried to look calm as well. The she smiled nervously. 

"They were captured." 

"Captured? But the woman was an excellent exterminator!" 

"She broke a nail!", Bai Tsa replied and the others nodded quickly. 

"And the Hunos captured the two guides.", Xiao Fung added. 

"And why didn't you help them?" 

"We didn't know that. We were busy buying an artifact in a shop.", Shendu answered. 

"A man came in and said that a couple had been taken by the Hunos.", Po Kong continued. 

"Then we threw the artifact away and went after them, but the Hunos had already gone away. We tried to follow their traces and we ended up arriving at the Perdition Forest. We decided to investigate there and found nothing. Then we came back here and only now we remembered the forgotten artifact and the captured guides.", Tchang Zu finished and their father still took some while to process all that information. 

"Damn Hunos!! Let's kill them all!!!!!!" 

Some demons shook their heads, others covered their faces with one hand sighing heavily. 

"Come on, children! Death to the Hunos!! Nobody takes away our family's slaves and goes unpunished!!!" 

-=-=-=-=-

"WAAAAHHHHH!!!!! What did we do wrong????", the Hunos screamed desperately while being massacred by the demons. Suddenly, Po Kong stopped and was thoughtful. Some of her siblings also stopped and she turned to look at them. 

"Wait... Don't the Hunos live at the north of China and the Perdition Forest is in the south?", she asked in confusion and they glanced at each other. 

"Who cares? The important is that he believed us!" 

**To be continued...**

***** 

I really hope that "Huno" is the right word for that people who lived in Siberia... You know, those who attacked China in "Mulan"! XDD 

Culture Note: Okonomiyaki is a type of Japanese pancake. 


	5. One Hundred Years Later

Yay! Thank you for the nice reviews! They always make me feel better!^^ Answers for them now: 

**VampireNaomi** – Good thing that you think like that about them, because that's exactly what I wanted. Well, actually Shendu was going to be a bit different, but I'm still pleased with his current performance in this fic. 

**Forgotten Love** – Thank you both for the review and for the "Huns" hint. About Hsi Wu... eh, I mentioned in the beginning of chapter 1 that he wasn't born yet.^^" In fact, this chapter is basically about him. 

Sorry, my English is not very good today (I don't know why), there were some slangs and puns in the original version. And the chapter is kinda short, but I wrote it almost at midnight and I only stopped when I was about to sleep on the keyboard! 

***** 

**Chapter 5: One Hundred Years Later**

One hundred years passed since the incident with the guides and the Huns slaughter. The demons were living their normal lives – or not – and nothing has changed a lot. A new demon was born – removing Shendu from his position as the youngest one – and his name was Hsi Wu. He was the sky demon and his most notable characteristic was his wings. 

_"Of course, he is the sky demon! How would he fly without wings?"_, Shendu had affirmed. 

Other interesting characteristic about Hsi Wu was his size. 

_"It's because he is a baby! Just give him vitamin, one day he'll grow."_, Bai Tsa had said. 

Hsi Wu was much smaller than any of his siblings even when they had been newborn. Their parents could say that even in his adulthood, the sky demon would not be much bigger than a normal human man. 

_"Of course, he is the sky demon! How would he fly if he were as big as a whale?"_, Shendu had stated and received a punch from Bai Tsa when she had had enough of his insolent remarks. 

... 

Despite his age, Hsi Wu was a very intelligent demon and didn't used to get involved in his siblings' violent fights. Especially because _he_ was the one who always got a spanking, even by Shendu. But he had an open mind and often accepted the company of almost all his siblings. 

_Hsi Wu is seated in the ground in front of Xiao Fung with an expression of who understands absolutely nothing he's being told._

"Why a cock never enters a bar?", Xiao Fung asked and Hsi Wu blinked. After five minutes of silence, Xiao himself answered. "Because he doesn't want his tail turned into a cocktail! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!" 

Hsi Wu was as confused as before, watching Xiao Fung dying laughing. Their other siblings approached and observed them. 

"What is a bar?", the sky demon finally dared to ask and nobody paid him any attention. 

"Get lost, Xiao. Even Hsi Wu is not interested in your stupid jokes.", Bai Tsa said lifting her youngest brother. 

"Come on, Hsi. Let's teach you how to swim." 

"No, let's teach him how to eat.", Po Kong said trying to take Hsi Wu from her sister, who pulled him back. Others also joined the fight. 

"Let's teach him how to dig!", Dai Gui suggested. 

"No, let's train Kung Fu moves with him!", Shendu said jumping to try to reach him and Xiao did the same. 

"I saw him first!!! Give me him back!!!" 

"Let's teach him what real pain is when we use all our powers to give him a very slow and painful death until he loses all his blood and begs to die!", Tchang Zu proposed and the fight immediately stopped when everybody stared in disbelief at him. 

"I like the idea.", Shendu said after a long while. 

"Let's teach him how to tell jokes already!", Xiao started again. 

"No, how to dig!" 

"How to swim!" 

"How to eat!" 

"How to fight!" 

"How to die!" 

Hsi Wu was being pulled for six different directions at the same time and probably would have died if Tso Lan had not come to the rescue. 

"Come, Hsi. I'll teach you about the moon.", the moon demon calmly said taking his youngest brother and going away with him. All the others stared at them puzzled, then angry. 

"Hey, not fair!!" 

"Tso Lan!!" 

"Give him back!!!" 

"Waaahhh!!!" 

"Tso, you are bad!" 

"Hey, I've got an idea!", Po Kong announced triumphant and everybody, including Tso Lan, looked at her – for Hsi Wu's despair. "What about we teach him how to fly?", she suggested. 

"Good idea!", Xiao said. 

"Indeed.", Tso Lan admitted. 

-=-=-=-=-=-

Bai Tsa placed Hsi Wu in a tree's high branch and went down to join her other siblings. Hsi Wu blinked and felt cold shivers going down his spine as he glanced at down and saw he was very high. 

"Fly, Hsi!", Bai yelled and he gulped. 

"You have to flap your wings!", Po Kong added and the sky demon spread his wings and drew a deep breath before jumping forward. He fell straight to the ground and his siblings flinched, then looked unsure at him. 

"I bet it hurts.", Tchang Zu remarked. 

"Hahaha, he fell like a potato sack!", Xiao said grinning. 

"Shut up, Xiao!", Bai Tsa ordered. "Try again, Hsi!" 

_Seven hours later, at night..._

"Come on, Hsi! Nobody fails for the 3719th time!", Tchang encouraged and Hsi – already all crippled – nodded weakly. He closed his eyes and jumped in the air flapping his wings with all his strength that still remained. He was going to fall again, but a strong wind blew and made him float. He opened his eyes and though he was really flying (poor him). 

"Look, he did it!", Xiao yelled, waking Shendu and Po Kong up, since they had fallen asleep some while ago. 

"Congratulations, Hsi!" 

"Very good!" 

"I knew you would do it!" 

"But he is not flying, he is just float-", Tso Lan said but Bai Tsa interrupted him. 

"Ah, Tso! Stop spoiling our fun!" 

Hsi Wu grinned pleased with himself for finally having learned how to fly. He couldn't believe how easy this was, he wasn't even making effort to do it! 

"I can fly! I can fl-", he could not continue when he was hit by something in the head and his siblings could just watch Hsi falling to the ground again in a 'bird-with-an-injured-wing' trajectory. 

"What happened to him? Looks like he's drunk.", Xiao commented. Everybody approached to see Hsi Wu and a bat fallen unconscious, with this face: @_@ 

-=-=-=-=-=-

"You mean I didn't fly?", Hsi Wu asked discouraged, rubbing the bump on his head. 

"Yes!/No!", Bai Tsa and Tso Lan answered at the same time, and then glared at each other. 

"You flew like a stone.", Xiao Fung said. 

"Cheer up, Hsi! You will learn how to fly someday.", Po Kong encouraged. 

"Yeah, you still can train for many years.", Dai Gui pointed out. 

"No way, you are useless!", Shendu snapped and everyone looked seriously at him. 

"You know Shendu, that's the sort of remark that Hsi Wu didn't have to hear." 

"But it's the truth.", Tchang Zu commented shrugging and the others looked hopelessly at him (¬¬U). 

"HEY BAI TSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", someone yelled hysterically from the window and the demons pressed their hands on their ears in order to avoid becoming deaf. 

"J-Jin?", Bai Tsa stuttered. 

"Guesswhat?IsaidIwantedtogotothePerditionForestandmyfatherallowedmeto!Hesaidyoucancomewithme!Doyouwantto?Doyouwantto???" 

"What?! I didn't understand a word!" 

"What about in the morning?" 

"Morning-" 

"Then it's a deal! I'll talk to your father!", Jin said and went away. The demons glanced at each other and shrugged. 

-=-=-=-=-=-

"Ahh, today is a great day to swim.", Bai Tsa said stretching her arms admiring the blue sky and was about to leave when her father pulled her by one of her tentacles. "Ouch!" 

"Where you think you're going, young lady?" 

"I'm going to swim, I'm the water demon.", she said proudly and her father nodded. 

... 

"NO WAY YOU ARE GOING TO SWIM!!!! YOU ARE GOING TO THE PERDITION FOREST RIGHT NOW!!!" 

"What? But... but.... but.... but.... but......" 

"NO 'BUTS'!!!!!! DO YOU WANT TO DISOBEY YOUR FATHER?????" 

"But why do I have to go....?" 

"It's going to be very educational for Hsi Wu, and I know that you couldn't enjoy it the last time since you were very busy looking for the guides captured by the Huns." 

"But- I- Don't- How- Why- .... Father, I don't want to go there!", she complained and his eyes glowed dangerously. 

"DON'T QUESTION ME!!!!! JOIN YOUR SIBLINGS NOW BEFORE I GIVE YOU TO A JAPANESE FISHING SHIP SO THAT THEY CAN SERVE YOU AS SUSHI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" 

"Ack!!!! Yes, sir!!!!!!!!" 

-=-=-=-=-=-

"Jin, why do you want to go to the Perdition Forest??? You said you were afraid of there, that it was a cursed place!", Bai Tsa said desperately while she, her friend and her siblings walked with no enthusiasm at all. 

"Ah, but you were there and are still alive even after one hundred years, then there mustn't be any danger. You were right, that curse thing is nonsense." 

"Jiiiiin........ and here I though you were my friend...." (T_T) 

"Oh, Bai Tsa! Your brothers are sooo cute!!!", Jin said pinching the cheeks of Shendu and Xiao Fung. 

"Oow, zat hurzs!", Xiao murmured. 

"And your youngest brother is the cuddliest thing I have ever seen!!!", she said grabbing Hsi Wu and squeezing him so tightly that he turned blue and fought hard to get some air, almost having his bones all broken. 

The oldest ones sighed in frustration and tried to convince themselves that Jin was not there. 

_"Ignore her... Just ignore her... She's not here... She's not getting on my nerves!"_

"AHHH!!! CUUUUTE!!!!!!!!!", Jin yelled one more time and the demons flinched. 

"I'll kill her before we get there...", Dai Gui muttered. 

"C-Calm down... Just some... hundred of kilometers until there...", Po Kong said trying to sound encouraging. 

**To be continued...**

***** 

Voting: What do you think about the use of "the expression faces" (^_^, -_-", etc) in this fic? 

_- Great! In fact, you should use them more often in this fic!_

_- Good, but don't over-use it! _

_- Bad, stop doing that right now! _

Tell me your opinion and review, please!^^ 


	6. The Castle

Let's see, I wake up everyday at six in the morning and study until 4:20. I arrive at home almost at five wanting to relax in front of the television and what do I see? Cyborg 009, Saint Seiya and Captain Tsubasa! Where's the fun in my life?! I need good animes! Who had the brilliant idea of taking off Inuyasha and Yu Yu Hakusho, anyway?? Some of the good animes are re-running for the zillionth time in Saturday 'mornings' or are not aired at all, like YYH. And some people still wonder what the fics are for... 

Oh, yes. I decided to include some smilies, but I can't use all of them since FF.net deletes it in the upload. Beside, they won't appear inside parenthesis (I found out they refer to the author that way), now I'll write them free in the text. If that bothers you, just tell me and suggest another form that is not parenthesis. 

Thank you to all those who reviewed! 

**Forgotten Love** – Thank you! I won't use so much the smilies, that's more typical of fics in script format, but sometimes I just feel like using them. I have to admit that I don't know when the chapters are funny or not, I just write it not caring if everyone is very OOC. But I try... hehe... 

**VampireNaomi** – I don't know if Hsi Wu will learn to fly. Probably not, because of my future plans on this fic. I wrote it with an idea that I REALLY hope nobody has ever thought of it! 

**Youkai Youko** – Oh, many troubles. Get ready for Bai Tsa's screams, the previous chapters mean something! Muhahahaha! Mas diz aí, quando é que a gente vai continuar "Asas Escarlates" e/ou "A Mãe de Todos os Dragões" juntas? São idéias tão legais, e é divertido escrevê-las! Tem até alguns leitores aí perguntando por elas... 

**Yu Mutou** – Ah, you reviewed only the first chapter! Why...? ;; Oh, never mind. Thank you for reviewing!! 

-----

**Chapter 6: The Castle**

When the demons arrived at the Perdition Forest, it was already night. Shendu and Hsi Wu sighed in relieve, the barely could believe that Jin would leave them alone for some hours! The older ones were pleased with that too, mainly Tso Lan, who enjoyed the silence and certainly disliked Jin's hysterical screams. 

"See? I told you it would be fast." Po Kong remarked smiling and her siblings glared daggers at her. Hsi Wu thought that Jin had broken some of his ribs and still tried to remember how to breathe, Shendu was in a similar situation and his face was all red thanks to her pinches, Bai Tsa was tired for walking so much – she was the water demon and not made for long walks – and Tchang Zu and Dai Gui had headache due to her screams and endless talking. 

The mountain demon sweat-dropped, but tried to continue smiling friendly. 

"What are we going to do now?" Jin asked. 

"You ask us? It was your idea to come here, you should know what do." Bai Tsa answered sharply. 

"Let's look for a ghost!", Xiao Fung suggested and Bai Tsa shivered. 

"NO, LET'S NOT!!!" she shouted and the still little demon flinched, then thought for a moment. 

"Then let's... eat?" he tried. 

"Ahh, that's a good idea!" Po Kong said and Shendu snorted. 

"But there's nothing to eat is this damn forest! This place is completely useless, it doesn't even have real ghosts! I don't even know why we came he-" 

"Shut up, Shendu!!" Bai Tsa punched her younger brother, throwing him some meters away until he was knocked against a tree and fell to the ground out cold. 

"Oh, great! Now someone will have to carry him!" Po Kong said in annoyance and Bai Tsa shrugged. 

"Don't count on me, I already made us all a favor by silencing him." 

"I carry him!!!" Jin volunteered and hopped cheerfully towards the fire demon. She took him in her arms squeezing him as if he were a very cute soft toy. It was so strong that a crack sound was heard and the demons flinched. 

"That must hurt..." Tchang Zu murmured shaking his head. 

"Not that much... he is unconscious, anyway..." Tso Lan reminded and glanced at Hsi Wu, who had leaned on him making an effort to keep his eyes open. "I think we should take some rest now, it was a long trip." 

"Yeah, we can come up with something to do tomorrow. Like swim, there is a river near here." Bai Tsa stated and Jin glanced around herself. 

"But where are we going to sleep?" she asked. 

"In the tents." Po Kong answered and all the demons stood there in silence for a long time. "Xiao Fung, the tents!" 

"They are not with me! I thought Bai Tsa would bring them!" 

"Me?! I thought Dai Gui would bring them!" 

"But Dai Gui was told that Tso Lan would bring them." 

"Yes, but Tchang Zu said he was going to bring them." 

"I kept them in some bags and gave them to Shendu and Hsi Wu!" 

All the glances turned to the youngest one. 

"Those huge blue bags? I left them on the dinner table. I thought one of you would see them there." 

All the demons thought to have heard an 'ops' from Po Kong, and their glances turned to her. 

"Po Kong..." Tchang Zu started, raising a brow. "What did you do to the tents?" 

"I... ate them." she admitted. 

"YOU ATE THEM?!?!?!" 

"It's because they were there on the dinner table... I thought it was food..." 

"You ate nine camping kits and didn't notice it?" Tso Lan asked in disbelief. 

"That's why our mother always tells you to chew your food." Xiao remarked grinning and Dai Gui sighed. 

"Who cares? Let's sleep in the ground!" 

"In the ground?" Jin asked looking at down in disgust. 

"Ack! No way I am going to lay on this dirty ground! What about all the bugs and... and... the things that go around there at night?" Bai Tsa said and the males rolled their eyes. 

"Females..." Dai Gui muttered. 

"All right, let's see if there is a cave or something like that. Hsi Wu!" Tchang called and before the sky demon could answer, he grabbed him with only one hand and lifted him above his head. "Fly and find a good place!" he ordered throwing his youngest brother, who screamed and ended up falling in a tree some meters away. 

"I think he hasn't learned to fly yet." Xiao Fung said. 

"I see something!" Hsi announced. 

"Really? What is it?" the oldest one asked. 

"It looks a type of castle, it's not very far away!" 

"Then let's go there!" 

"YEAH!!!" The demons rushed towards a random direction. 

"No, it's to the other direction!" Hsi Wu corrected and the demons ran to the opposite direction. 

"YEAH!!!" 

... 

"Brothers and sisters, don't leave me here!" ;; 

-=-=-=-=-=-

After helping Hsi Wu to get down from the tree, the demons followed his instructions until arriving at the castle. Po Kong had to take her human form to go come in. It seemed to have been abandoned a long time ago, there was no one there and the whole place was old and dusty. Fortunately the castle was very big and had rooms for each one of them. 

Bai Tsa glanced around herself feeling cold shivers going down her spine, and tried to hide her terror. This castle looked haunted, there were animal statues, dark corners, spider webs, creaking stair and doors, cold winds and strange noises coming from somewhere in the ceiling. 

"BOOO!!!!!!" Two cold hands weighed on her shoulders and Bai Tsa's scream echoed about five times for the castle, perhaps even for the forest. When she opened her eyes, found herself almost seated on Tso Lan's shoulders, holding his head. The moon demon did not move, but just stopped and stared forward. The water demon laughed nervously and began to rub his head. 

"Ahaha..... Spider web..." she said and got off her brother. She looked back and saw Xiao Fung trying to suppress and loud and uncontrolled laughter. "Why you--!" She was ready to charge at him but Po Kong stopped her. 

"Not now, Bai Tsa. Tchang Zu and Dai Gui already went to sleep. I have just chosen a room, why don't you choose one for yourself too?" 

"Oh, all right..." The water demon sighed and observed the corridor. It was long and its dark end could not be seen. She gulped and turned to look for safety with her siblings, but only Jin was still there with her. 

"I'll sleep with your little brother, ok? Good night!" her friend said before entering one of the rooms and leave Bai Tsa alone in that dark corridor. The water demon felt cold shivers going down her spine and ran to one room, where Po Kong was already lied in a bed. 

"Po Kong! I cannot sleep alone! Let me stay here with you!" she begged and her sister sighed. 

"Come on, Bai Tsa... Don't you think you're kin of old for that?" 

"But this place is scary...!" 

The mountain demon got up and leaded Bai Tsa to a room. 

"Look, there's nothing wrong here, this place is as safe as our palace." she said and Bai Tsa remembered when their palace had been invaded by a whole army of spirits that possessed some objects and humans who worked there. 

"But-" 

"No 'buts'. Remember, it's all in your head." 

"But-" 

"ALL IN YOUR HEAD!" 

"Ok, ok, all in my head...!" 

"Good. Now repeat that until realizing that everything is alright." 

"All in my head..." 

Po Kong nodded and left the room. "Good night, Bai Tsa." 

"All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my he-" 

"Hey!" a dark figure approached her and Bai Tsa screamed in horror while, punching the figure. She heard the sound of something knocking against the wall and opened her eyes just to see her youngest brother sprawled against the wall. 

"Hsi Wu!" 

"Ow... What have I done this time...?" he asked trying to recompose. 

"Sorry... I thought you were a... erh... I thought you were Shendu." 

"Oh..." 

"But what do you want here, anyway??" 

"Brother Tso didn't let me sleep with him, and I don't want to be alone..." 

Bai Tsa thought for a while. She really wanted to sleep with someone. Staying alone in this castle did not sound a good idea at all. Then again, if something happened, Hsi Wu would not be able to protect her. He was younger, weaker and would probably count on her to protect him. Besides, she did not want him to see that she was scared. She was older and had pride. 

"No way. Look at yourself, you're not a little baby anymore. You have to learn to sleep alone. Even Xiao Fung and Shendu aren't afraid." 

"Shendu is sleeping with Jin." 

"Because he did not have a choice. Now get lost, I need my beauty sleep." 

Hsi Wu looked at his sister. His face was so sad, so cute, so hopeless that she almost gave up, but then she looked away and turned around. 

"What are you waiting for? Go away!" she demanded lying again and after a while heard the door closing. The sky demon had gone away, she could relax now. She looked at the window and saw the full moon partially covered by some clouds. A cold wind suddenly blew and she flinched when hearing a bang coming from the corridor. Then the silence filled the room. A sepulchral silence that was even more uncomfortable than any noise. Bai Tsa had never thought she would wish so much to hear the voice of Jin or any of her siblings. 

This mortal silence was driving her crazy! 

"All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head... All in my head..." 

-=-=-=-=-=-

Something was bothering him. Everything was black and he was feeling a strange anguish. His chest hurt and he felt , imprisoned, tied, unable to move. A noise was heard, firstly very distant, but then it became loud and clear. A... snore?! 

Shendu opened his eyes, widening them. Jin was holding him tightly, although she was sleeping. The dragon could not breathe at all. She was killing him! 

He tried to yell, breathe fire, bite her arm, kick her, elbow her, anything, but his efforts were useless. There he was, suffocating in Bai Tsa's best friend's arms in a completely strange place. 

"Mommy, I didn't know that dolphins could fly..." Jin murmured and changed her position in the bed, releasing Shendu for a moment. Enough time for him to jump to the ground. He gasped pleased for breathing again and rubbed his neck while glancing around himself. 

He quietly left the room, looking at Jin to make sure he would have time to run if she woke up and saw him fleeing. He closed the door and ran away. He looked back and finally allowed himself to smile in victory. 

Then, he bumped into something. Something that should not be in the middle of a corridor. He raised his glance and saw he had not bumped into something, but someone. 

"Ah, you're awake. I bet you don't feel like sleeping now." Xiao Fung said in a low voice, smiling. 

"Indeed." 

"That's not a surprise. You slept for... five hours. I cannot sleep too." the wind demon said and shrugged. "This place is very boring, we have to turn it a bit more fun." 

Shendu tilted his head. 

"Fun? How?" he asked in suspicion and Xiao looked at one of the doors. 

"Who goes to the kitchen to drink a glass of water every night?" 

Shendu smirked. 

"Oh..." 

Xiao nodded and the two demons chuckled. 

**To be continued...**


	7. A Strange Creature

Yay! Thanks to reviewers! 

**Forgotten Love** – Konnichiwa! I'm so happy that you liked the chapter! I really hope you like this one too. Hmm, maybe your English is getting bad for reading my fics too much? I know I make mistakes, I'm even going to correct them by editing and reposting the old chapters of all my fics. Yes, tiresome but necessary. 

**VampireNaomi** – Nah, nothing special. Don't get disappointed. Now that you are stricter about the fics, I feel very nervous when posting a new chapter. Yeah, you traumatized me! Now I'm not very sure about what type of humor you like either... o.o" 

Just a useless observation: "Ronc" is onomatopoeia for "snore", but I was not sure which one I should use... 

**Chapter 7: A Strange Creature**

It was very dark. The only light was the moonlight, and tonight the moon looked quite bigger. Once in a while a cloud covered it, making the room completely dark. However, soon the cloud was taken by the wind. 

The only audible sounds were from crickets, the wind, some window creaking as it opened and closed due to the wind... Each moment, those few sounds were getting more intense, louder, closer, more- 

"RONC!" 

Bai Tsa startled and sighed heavily. Yeah, there was also the eventual snore of her brothers. 

The water demon avoided looking at the window and covered herself with the blanket even more. Apart from those noises, the castle was deadly silent. In fact, that whole region still made cold shivers go down her spine, especially after what had happened one hundred years ago. It seemed the she would not sleep tonight. 

"I have to get out of here... I have to go home... I have to..." she murmured trembling and then relaxed, looking at her dry scales. "...drink some water," she said getting up. She slithered to the door and swallowed before opening it. 

She opened the door all at once, her eyes closed. Since nothing happened, she dared to open her right eye to take a look at the corridor. She did not see anything strange and opened her left eye. She glanced around herself for some minutes and finally headed to the kitchen. 

She even wanted to ask one of her siblings or Jin to go with her. Nevertheless, that would be pretty humiliating. She was not a little baby, but a demon sorceress. Nothing could harm her, she was above that. There was nothing to fear. There was no need to worry. She was fine, she was safe, she was calm! 

"Ah!" she yelped when she gave a false "step" – she had not noticed the stairs in the end of the corridor – and rolled painfully down the stairs. Only when she was almost in the end she turned into water so that she would not suffer with the fall anymore. "Damn!" she muttered taking her true form. "I hate stairs! Why couldn't it be a ramp?! It had to be a stupid human to invent the lousy stairs!" she continued muttering on her way to the kitchen. 

When she got there, she took a cup and searched for water. Perhaps because this castle had been abandoned for a long time there was not even a drop of water in the kitchen. And she was the water demon, she could not stand to be far away from her element for too long. Not she would die because of it, but her magic grew stronger when she was close to water, and her scales were more beautiful when they were hydrated. 

But to get water right now, she would have to go to the river. Which was bad, very bad... 

"No!" she said to herself, shaking her head and then stared at the door in determination. She would do it! She approached the door, opened it and... 

"BOOO!!!!!!" a white thing with red glowing eyes screamed before her, with a terrifying and spooky voice. Bai immediately turned as pale as the "thing" and screamed louder than she ever did in her life. Her scream was so loud that it knocked the "thing" over, echoed about ten times within fifty kilometers and drove away some night creatures of the forest. 

Tchang Zu got up, feeling like a huge gong had rung inside his head. Hsi Wu began to cry. Dai Gui had serious suspects of having lost his hearing. Po Kong ran to Hsi Wu's room while Tchang Zu rushed along with oldest brother to the kitchen. 

Jin continued sleeping like a log. 

As soon as Po Kong took Hsi Wu in her arms, she tried to calm him and also went to the kitchen. 

"What's going on he-" Tchang Zu tripped over something, falling to the ground. Tso Lan, who came right after him, stared at him for a while and shook his head. 

"Bai Tsa, what happened?" he wanted o know. Then Dai Gui arrived, followed by Po Kong carrying Hsi Wu. 

The water demon was so trembling and pale that she barely could say anything. She pointed at where her oldest brother was. 

"A ghost...!" 

Everybody looked at Tchang, who was getting up now. 

"Funny, it looks like Tchang Zu," her sister commented. 

"Perhaps because it _is_ Tchang Zu!" Dai Gui said. 

"No, I'm talking about that white thing beside him! It's a ghost!" Bai Tsa said hiding behind the moon demon, pulling his robe with so hard that she almost tore it. 

"Huh?" Everyone looked at something moving close to Tchang Zu. Hsi Wu held his big sister even more tightly and the others moved away from the ghost to surround it. Tchang Zu finally took the initiative and grabbed it. 

The moonlight shone in the sky again, showing that Tchang had just a sheet in his hands. They blinked twice in confusion and looked down at Xiao Fung seated on Shendu's shoulders. 

"You!" the thunder demon yelled. 

"What are you doing here?" Dai Gui asked. The two little demons smiled nervously, sweat dropping. 

"Uh... Nothing, we were just... looking for some blankets," Shendu answered. 

"Yeah, it's such a cold night..." Xiao added. Everybody stared at them in disbelief. Tchang Zu narrowed his eyes and grabbed them by the back of their necks. 

"You two woke me up, woke up your siblings, scared Bai Tsa, made Hsi Wu cry, and I still tripped over you... and it was just a stupid prank?!" he hissed slowly, tightening them and making them flinch. 

"Hey, we suffered too! I thought I was going to get deaf, Bai Tsa's scream is still echoing inside my head," Xiao defended. The thunder demon's eyes glowed so dangerously that Xiao gulped and struggled to break free from his brother's grip. "Ok, ok, I'm sorry! Let me go now!" 

"Well, I'm not sorry at all," Shendu said crossing his arms and ended up on the other side of the hall when Bai Tsa hit his head with a broom. 

"You idiot! Don't do that ever again!" she yelled furiously. 

"Well, since nothing happened, let's go sleep again," Tchang Zu proposed and they all muttered monosyllables while going upstairs and Shendu tried to get up, with a bump on his head. Tchang Zu took him again and looked angry at his two little brothers. "And you two are grounded." 

"Wait!" Bai Tsa suddenly said and they turned to look at her. "I still need water." 

"All right," Po said shrugging. 

"But... I don't want to go alone..." Bai admitted and they groaned in frustration. 

"Oh man..." Tchang Zu muttered. "Po Kong! Go with her!" he ordered and went upstairs. 

The two females left the castle. Bai Tsa was practically hanging on her sister's arm, glancing around herself all the time and shivering because of any noise. 

"Relax, Bai Tsa. There's nothing dangerous here. We came here one hundred years ago and there was no real ghost, remember? The scariest thing was the crazy bloodthirsty guide," Po said to try calming her. 

"Oh, Po Kong... Have you already forgotten the warning?" 

"What warning?" 

"Of the ritual!" 

"What ritual?" 

"I don't know, but she said it was dangerous!" 

"Honestly, I have no idea what you're talking about." 

"Yes, you do! It's that ritual we did in that trip we promised one another not to mention, remember?" 

"No, I don't. But if you're not supposed to mention it, why are you mentioning it now?" 

Bai Tsa groaned and slapped her forehead. 

"Never mind, Po! Forget it!" 

_I knew she was not intelligent..._

They got to the river. All that water made Bai Tsa forget all her concerns and dive cheerfully. In her element, she felt much safer, more self-confident. The mountain demon just watched her. She did not feel like joining her and swim and was not sleepy either, just starving. If Tchang Zu had not ordered her to come with the mermaid-demon, she would probably eat for the whole night. 

She looked around herself. The trees, so green... looked like vegetables! The bigger stones were chicken and the smaller ones were banana with caramel. The spider webs turned into _soba_. And the river, then? Soup... 

"Po Kong..." an apprehensive voice called, very distant. 

"Mmm, _sushi_..." the mountain demon murmured taking the _sushi_ in the soup and biting it. 

"Po Kong!" the voice shouted really scared now. 

"Uh? What?" she asked in confusion. When she came around, she noticed she was in the river, biting Bai Tsa's right arm. 

"What do you think you're doing?!" 

"Oops," She let go of her arm. "Sorry, I'm hungry..." 

Bai moved away from her and snorted. "Yeah, yeah. You should be protecting me, but you are even scarier." 

-=-=-=-=-=-

He chose the darkest, smallest and dustiest room in the castle and threw the two little demons inside it. 

"You shall sleep there until tomorrow morning!" the oldest brother said quite angry and left, slamming the door so violently that a book dropped on Xiao Fung's head, making him whining. He rubbed his head and glanced around himself, trying to see something. The only thing he saw was his brother's red glowing eyes. 

They stared at each other for a while, until Shendu got enough of it. 

"What? Why don't you stop staring at me?!" 

"I was just going to ask 'So, what do we do now?'..." 

Shendu slapped his forehead and sighed. 

"Well, there is nothing to do here. Let's try to sleep so that the time will pass faster," the dragon suggested. 

"Oh, ok," Xiao replied, then lied on the ground, using the book that had hit his head as a pillow. 

... 

"Shendu..." 

"What?" 

"I'm hungry." 

"Shut up! Leave me alone!" 

Xiao decided to be quiet and try to sleep. 

_Five minutes later..._

"Shendu..." 

"What now?!" 

"I'm hearing a noise..." 

Shendu was quite for some seconds to try to hear it. 

"It's probably just one of our siblings." 

"But if you pay attention, the noise is not coming from outside... it's here..." Xiao murmured approaching the fire demon as if he could protect him. 

"Don't be ridiculous. Tchang Zu locked the door, and it was not opened since then. It's impossible that there's someone here beside us." 

The sound of something dropping in the floor was heard and this time Shendu also got alarmed. He and Xiao retreated until the wall impeded them to continue. 

"I think there is indeed someone here..." the wind demon whispered terrified. 

"There is not..." Shendu said trying to sound calm, although he was trembling. "What just dropped should have been about to drop since Tchang Zu slammed the door." 

This time, a quiet groan was heard, and the duo shivered. 

"What was that?" Xiao asked. 

"Nothing... It's just our imagination..." 

One more moment of silence. They even began to think there was not anything strange there, but then they heard strange noises again. Now it was closer and it sounded like an animal was sniffing to follow their scent. 

"Shendu, there _is_ something here!" 

"Surprisingly, I think you are right!" 

"I cannot see anything, it would be a lot easier if we had some light in here," the wind demon complained and looked at his brother, smiling. "I know it! Use your fire!" 

"Xiao Fung, we don't even have a candle! Besides, I cannot contr-" Shendu could not finish his sentence when his brother punched him in the stomach, which made him breathe fire for a short moment. Time enough to light up what was few centimeters in front of them and reveal the presence of someone. 

It looked like an old man, but its skin was grey, its nails were sharp, its ears were a bit pointed and its eyes were yellowish. Soon the fire was gone and for a while they could just stare at the darkness with widened eyes. Xiao Fung and Shendu screamed in horror and tried to run away, but without seeing anything they ended up hitting something and falling to the ground. 

They heard the creature making a rather spooky noise again and approach. It grabbed the wind demon, who shouted for help. Shendu heard the sound of something heavy and made of metal dropping and fumbled with his hand until he found the object, which he used to hit the creature. 

It let go of Xiao. The two demons screamed and ran for the room until finding the door. They tried to force it, but the unknown being approached again. Shendu moved himself and his brother from the door, concentrated took a deep breath and breathed fire on he door. 

Once again the flames revealed the figure next to them. Shendu kicked the door – since it was a bit burned, it was easier to force it and pulled his brother, who was afraid of passing through the fire. The finally left the room, running as fast as they could and screaming in panic. 

In his room, Tchang Zu got up angry and slit his eyes in annoyance. 

"But what are those children doing now?" he wondered, leaving the room. He stared at the dark corridor, his arms crossed, and saw fire in its end. "I can not believe they dared to do that." 

He also saw his two little brothers running towards him and was surprised that they were not afraid of him. They went past Tchang Zu, exclaiming things like "Help!" and "Run!". The thunder demon watched them running away and raised a brow. As he looked forward again, he saw a strange creature right before him. it grabbed his shoulders and, before he could do anything, it looked deep in his eyes. 

Tchang barely could scream, because his energy was slowly leaving his body. A strong greenish light was the last thing he saw before his sight went black and he passed out. 

**To be continued...**


	8. The Second Victim

Well, what should I say...? I know some of you may be wondering why I said that I'd update one or two weeks ago, but it's a long story. I honestly don't know what to think about this chapter, but hopefully it's still good. 

And thank you very much to those who review. 

**Forgotten Love** – Thank you! You haven't been around for a while, so I wonder if you still like JCA. Yeah, I get this feeling of concern when JCA authors abandon this fandom for no apparent reason and let their fics unfinished. It's so depressing... Anyway, a Inuyasha/JCA crossover would be fun, indeed. Although your fic "Love's No Fool" already has some IY elements. n.n 

**VampireNaomi** – You were scared? Hehe, that means I don't suck at horror scenes as much as I thought. But don't feel bad. I even considered if I should classify this fic as humour/horror, but I think that won't be necessary. 

**Hina Minamino** (for chapter 1) – Yeah, you're not ok, since you wrote that awful typo. Can you see your money for your English course flying away? Well, I can see mine... -.-" Eh, sorry, but I can't delete your review. -coughs- And what do you mean "so many chapters"?! Only seven to read! ó.ò 

------

**Chapter 8: The Second Victim**

The screams of his two brothers echoed in the whole castle, making Tso Lan sigh in annoyance and mentally curse them. Why couldn't he have a normal demon family? Why, why, why? 

The moon demon reluctantly got up and left his room. As he did so, he met Dai Gui and Hsi Wu, both not looking very happy either. He shook his head and three demons continued following the screams. 

It did not take them too long to see Shendu and Xiao Fung running towards them. Seemingly, the darkness did not allow them to immediately notice their three siblings' presence, and they ended up colliding with Dai Gui's legs and falling to the floor finally ceasing the shouting. 

The duo looked up and saw three pairs of red glowing. The one in the centre was very tall and pale and was looking seriously at them – very scary, indeed. 

"Wahhh! It's the ghost!" they shouted, panicking again. 

"Shendu, Xiao Fung, behave. It's me, Tso Lan," the moon demon said. His two little brothers stopped shouting and got up. 

"Tso Lan, Tso Lan, help us! There is a real ghost in this castle!" Xiao Fung said pulling his elder brother by his robe in order to make the moon demon follow him. Tso Lan, however, did not move at all. 

"Stop that. You played that game way too much today." 

Xiao shook his head. "No, it's serious now! There really is a ghost!" he said pointing at the direction where they had come from. 

"Indeed, and he got Tchang Zu!" Shendu added. 

Tso Lan sighed heavily and followed them until the place where they had seen the thunder demon. He was lying in the floor and his gaze was vague as if he were just half-conscious. And he indeed was. The moon demon could realise that as he approached, and had to admit that this really was odd. If whatever had attacked Tchang Zu managed to knockout him, perhaps they were dealing with something dangerous after all. 

He bent down to check on his oldest brother. 

"Is he dead?" Xiao asked. Dai Gui snorted and crossed his arms. 

"Of course not. It's obvious that he's drunk." 

The other four demons looked at him a bit confused. "Drunk?" 

"Yes. Have you already forgotten what happened in our father's party last year?" 

Everybody tried to remember. 

... 

_"Oh, water!" Tchang Zu said when seeing a barrel being placed on the floor, next to the kitchen. "Good, I was really thirsty." He grabbed the barrel and lifted it above his head so that he could drink all the water. _

The demon siblings immediately noticed that there was a smell coming from the barrel, and looked at one another. 

"Tso, I thought water did not have a smell," Hsi Wu said to the moon demon. 

"Tchang Zu, stop! That's not water, it's rice wine!" Bai Tsa warned. Tchang stopped drinking and turned to his sister. 

"What do you mean? Of course this is water! Look, it's colourless!" he said, and then began to drink it again. 

"I am the water demon! Do you think I cannot recognise my own element?!" she yelled angry. Tchang Zu just ignored her, and she rolled her eyes. 

"Tso, I want to drink rice wine too!" Xiao Fung said. 

"No, Xiao. You still are too young to do that." 

"Aww, but I want to!" 

"No." 

"Pleeease?" 

"No." 

"Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please!" 

As Xiao Fung insisted, Tchang Zu drank the 'water' all at once and fell backward. 

Everybody stared at him in a silent shock. 

"You see? I told you that was not water," Bai Tsa said crossing her arms and smiling proudly. 

"You know what? I don't want to drink it anymore," Xiao stated. 

"Hey, I think he is dead," Shendu remarked. They observed the oldest one. He was looking fatter, his face was red, his gaze was vague and he shook his head very slowly, moaning for not having strength to speak. 

"Hmm, he shouldn't have drunk so much..." Po Kong said. 

... 

"That's right, he's just like when he drunk too much rice wine that time," Shendu said. 

"Not this time," Tso Lan stated, surprising them. 

"What?" 

"I sense that something is missing in Tchang Zu. As if... his chi has been taken off from his body..." 

Shendu and Xiao Fung shivered. 

"D-Do you mean... that the ghost is not just freaky and scary, but it also absorbs our chi?" Shendu asked and he and Xiao looked at each other. 

"Are you sure about that?" Dai Gui confirmed. 

"I am almost sure." 

"Then what are we going to do, brother Tso? Is Tchang Zu going to die?" Hsi Wu asked. 

"Do not worry. I believe a chi transfusion can save him," Tso Lan answered. 

"Transfusion? Chi transfusion?!" the earth demon asked in disbelief. 

"Yes. One of you has to give some of your chi to Tchang Zu," Tso Lan said and turned around. "Xiao Fung, could you-" Tso saw only Hsi Wu and Dai Gui. 

"Those two ran away a while ago," Dai informed. Tso Lan frowned. 

"Well, one of you still has to give chi." 

Dai Gui grabbed the youngest one by his left wing and lifted him, handing him over to the moon demon. 

"Take his chi." 

"What?! No, I don't want to give my chi! Let me go! Let me go!" the bat-demon protested. 

"Calm down, Hsi Wu. It will not hurt at all," Tso Lan assured. 

The moon demon took his youngest brother and put him next to Tchang Zu. He joined his palms and concentrated. Few seconds later, he spoke six magic words and repeated them in a sequence three times. The red glow in Hsi Wu's eyes was replaced for a green one, which began to leave his body to reach Tchang Zu's eyes. 

When the transfusion was finished, Hsi Wu blinked in confusion. 

"Is it over?" 

"Yes," Tso Lan answered pleased. The thunder demon rose, pressing his right palm on his head. 

"How are you feeling, brother?" Dai Gui wanted to know. When the oldest one looked at them, everyone noticed that there was something very strange in him. His eyes looked different, they looked so innocent and... cute?! 

"I feel fine, brother Dai," he replied with a childish tone. Dai Gui's chin dropped almost reaching the floor and his eyes widened. 

"As you can see, the transfusion was successful," the moon demon stated. 

"Is Tchang Zu going to stay like that forever?" Dai Gui asked. 

"I don't know," Tso Lan responded, not making his brother feel any better. He then stood up and floated along the corridor. "He might be back to normal if we find what absorbed his chi. And let's hope that there still is a way to give his chi back to him." 

-=-=-=-=-=-

"Po Kong..." Bai Tsa called looking around apprehensively. 

"What is it?" 

"I have got a bad feeling about this. We should go back." 

Her sister sighed. "Oh, whatever, Bai Tsa. And let's hurry, because I'm starving." 

The water demon lifted herself from the river and wisely stood close to her sister. If something were about to attack her, there were more chances that it would hit a Po Kong-sized demon, and then Bai Tsa could sneak away and survive. 

-=-=-=-=-=-

It was very dark in the corridor, but that was not a problem for Tso Lan and Dai Gui, who were used to the darkness. Hsi Wu and Tchang Zu, on the other hand, were seeing almost nothing. They could just follow the sound of their two brothers' steps. Even, they were still very young – even though one of them was only mentally young – and sometimes got it wrong and ended up colliding with the wall. 

"The stairs are right over there," Tso Lan announced and Hsi Wu thought it would be the best if he changed his strategy. He fastened his pace to catch up his brother and grabbed his robe. Now he could follow his brother more safely. 

Tchang Zu noted that and thought it was a good idea. He did the same and almost made Tso Lan naked when pulled his robe with a rather unnecessary strength. 

"Tchang Zu, you'll end up tearing my robe!" the moon demon scolded. 

"At least it wouldn't be so embarrassing, since only Dai Gui would see that," Hsi Wu said. 

"And it would not be a pleasant sight at all," the earth demon stated. 

"But I'm curious, brother Tso. What do you have there? Legs? Tentacles? Nothing at all?" Hsi asked. 

"If you have legs, how many of them? Four to compensate the upper limbs?" Dai Gui continued. 

"Now that I come to think about that... If Tso Lan has two legs, then he must be an ant-demon!" Tchang Zu said. 

"So if he has four legs, he's a spider-demon!" Hsi Wu concluded. 

"Quiet! Can I know why you are so interested about the number of limbs I have?!" 

All of them stared innocently at him. Tso Lan turned around and floated away. The others followed him, and the group went through part of the castle. They found nothing, but noticed that somebody was entering the house when they got to the hall. 

"Ah, you are back," Tso Lan greeted as he saw his two sisters. 

"Tso Lan, did something happen?" Po Kong asked. 

"Eh? Uhn... No, nothing happened," he answered shrugging. 

"Then why are you awake this late?" she questioned. 

"And why is Tchang Zu sucking his thumb?" Bai Tsa asked in confusion. Everybody looked at Tchang Zu, who was seated in the floor like a baby. 

"Tchang Zu, don't!" Dai Gui and Tso Lan ordered, making him stop. When they realised, their two sisters had already come upstairs and now were right by their side. 

"Hmm... I don't know why, but there's something about Tchang Zu that is making me find him sweet..." Bai Tsa commented watching her eldest brother in thought. Dai and Tso Lan winced. 

"Ah, must be just your imagination!" Tso Lan said shoving Bai Tsa away from Tchang Zu. 

"Yes, Tchang Zu has never been so normal. He still is evil and arrogant as usual," Dai Gui said, shoving Po Kong as well. 

The group stopped when they were about to enter a dark corridor again. Bai Tsa retreated and grabbed Tso's arm. 

"Tso Lan, it's too dark there!" 

"Calm down, my sister, you have nothing to fear. We have already been here and there was not anything strange..." He turned to the four siblings behind him. "Right?" 

Both blinked and stared at Tchang Zu coming towards them. It would not that surprising if he were walking... 

"Tso Lan, why is Tchang Zu crawling?" 

Tso and Dai glanced at each other, one hoping the other had a good answer. Since none of them thought of something intelligent to say, they decided to tell her the truth. 

"Uh... Bai Tsa, we have something to tell you..." Dai Gui started. The water demon looked curiously at him. 

"Yes?" 

"Uh... You see..." They hesitated. 

"What is it, Tso Lan? Say it already!" Po Kong demanded. 

"Well..." Tso shrugged. "It's just that an unknown being of a supernatural origin is wandering in this castle and just attacked Tchang Zu, absorbing his chi. Then Hsi Wu had to give him some chi so that he would not die, and we have been looking for that creature since then." 

Bai Tsa and Po Kong stared at him in disbelief. It was normal that they still took a while to process all the information. After all, that should be a huge shock, especially to the younger sister. 

"Hah..." Bai Tsa smiled. "Hahahahahaha!" she began to laugh aloud. "Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!" 

And she kept laughing. Her siblings stared at her like she was crazy. 

"I think the shock was too much for her..." Hsi Wu commented shaking his head. Dai Gui nodded. 

Bai Tsa was laughing so much that she could no longer stand, and she had to lean on her sister. 

"That was great, Tso Lan," she said, pointing weakly at him. "I never thought you would play such a childish game!" 

"Childish game?" Tso asked, raising a brow. 

"Oh, come on! Did you really think you'd get me?" 

"What are you talking about?!" everybody asked. 

"Oh... I know you just want so scare me. You find it very funny, don't you?" 

"What? No, it's not that!" 

"You know what? You're pretty good. You even managed to convince Tchang Zu to act like a baby," she continued amused. 

"Not, it's-" 

"But you'll not get me again, because now I'm ready." Bai Tsa slithered towards the dark corridor which she had find scary just a moment ago and turned around to see her siblings. 

"Uhn... Bai Tsa..." Tso Lan murmured a bit worried, pointing at something behind her. 

"I shall prove to all of you that I am not easily scared!" She turned again and bumped into something. Or someone. She looked up at a horrible floating figure. Greyish skin, yellow eyes, long nails... Definitely not good. 

The two sisters' eyes widened. After some silent minutes, Bai Tsa finally found strength to scream and do the only thing she could at the moment: turn around and run, even if that meant that she would have to run over her siblings and almost roll down the stairs again. 

Unfortunately, Po Kong had the very same reaction. Anyone could quickly realise that that could not be a good thing. Firstly, the castle was very old and the floor could break due to Po Kong's extraordinary weight. Besides, there was an expressive difference between being run over by the water demon and being run over by the massive mountain demon. 

For everyone's misfortune, she tripped over Tchang Zu and broke the floor when she fell – as expected – taking Hsi Wu with her. Tso Lan and Dai Gui believed that at this point the two demons were already dead. Their only remaining option was run away as well. 

The creature did not seem to be seeing anything of what was going on, relying only on its nose to find its next victim. Tso Lan and Dai Gui did not have difficulties to escape, Bai Tsa should be kilometres away, Po Kong squashed Hsi Wu in the first floor and Tchang Zu had fallen in the hole created by his sister as well. After all, it decided to go down and try to attack one of the three demons there. 

Po Kong opened her eyes and got up with some difficulty. She did not even seem to notice that she had smashed her youngest brother against the floor, and ran away as fast as possible. Tchang Zu got up very slowly and also crawled towards a random direction before the monster arrived. 

The defenceless Hsi Wu was the chosen one. 

-=-=-=-=-=-

When Bai Tsa thought she had already run enough, she opened the first door she saw and went in hoping she could hide there until the menace was gone. How, she had no idea. She hoped that Tso Lan would somehow take care of that. 

Or else, perhaps she would have to sacrifice all of her siblings to get away alive from this castle. 

Bai Tsa slithered in the room and noticed that it was very small. So small that it did not take her too long to collide with someone. It yelped and she immediately hit the individual with a candle, which was the first thing her left hand grabbed. 

It moaned in pain. She retreated and was in guard again. 

"Who's there?!" 

She finally could see some light. Thus she also saw her hated brother Shendu holding a candle that he had lighted with his fire after almost set fire to the whole room. 

"It's us, Bai Tsa," he replied, and before the water demon could say or do anything she was his in the back of her head by a metallic object. The blow was so severe that she almost turned into water. But no, instead she fell to the floor a bit dizzy and mentally cursed whoever had attached her. 

"I did it! I killed the ghost!" Xiao Fung commemorated, frenetically hitting Bai Tsa with a broom. Shendu slapped his forehead. 

"You moron! You cannot kill a ghost because ghosts are already dead!" 

"Really? Well, but at least I knocked it out!" 

Bai Tsa got up ready to kill Xiao Fung and perhaps even Shendu as well. The little wind demon looked up at his very angry sister and smiled nervously, trying to hide the broom behind himself. 

"Heh... Hi, sis." 

"Give me that, you idiot!" Bai Tsa snatched the broom from his hands. "There is an undead wandering in this castle and you are here fooling around?! 

"We are not fooling around, Bai Tsa. We are the ones who first saw the ghost, that's why we are hiding here," Shendu explained. 

"Yeah, nobody believed us until it was too late," Xiao added. 

"Then it's your fault!" the female demon concluded, narrowing her eyes angry. 

"What? No, no, it's not our fault!" the duo defended themselves. 

"Oh, really? Whose, then?" she asked in suspicion. 

"It is yours," an old woman's voice answered echoing in the whole room. The trio got alarmed and looked around, searching for its owner. The two youngest demons widened their eyes as they saw something behind Bai Tsa, who also turned to see a bit transparent woman smirking sarcastically. 

**To be continued...**


End file.
